Posts
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When Jesus spoke of "being born again," he was not necessarily being literal, as in reincarnation-- although he might have also meant this.
As he often spoke allegorically or symbolically, especially in his famous parables, he was also speaking here of a psychospiritual process. It is one of dramatic transformation. In mysticism, to be "born again" is to receive, from the Spirit deep in the Unconscious, a new identity. Your human identity is your ego-- the name on your birth-certificate and driver's license.
But this is not your whole, or entire, identity. For, at a deep level of Mind, you are also a soul. This soul is much greater-- has much more experience, wisdom, beauty, and power than your ego. It existed, in "heavenly" realms, before this life, and will survive the death of your body and ego, at the time of your biological termination. Jesus and other masters taught that, when your mission or assignment is complete on earth, you will leave the earth, the earthlife, and the earthbody, behind. You will also have to leave behind your earthidentity. At that time, you will be "born again." You will adopt an entirely new identity; no one will even call you by your earthname.
But it is possible, while still alive, to embrace a rebirth experience or new identity. You can begin, at any moment, to identify yourself as a nonphysical soulmind. This is what deeply spiritual people have always done. You are not a body, but a mind. And deep in that mind is the soul, or soulmind. When you realize that you are a mind, you know that you are part of, arise from, a larger Mind. This is cosmic Mind or Spirit or God. This is the Lovenature deep within your unconscious Mind.
When you begin to identify yourself as Mind, not body, you begin to transcend (rise above) the merely "human" identity. You are not a body, as most human beings think; and the ego-self is tightly interwoven with the body.
Minds are not like bodies. Bodies are completely separated by membranes of skin. "You" are "in" your skin, and "I" in "mine." But minds are capable of melding and fusing in an "Interflow" process. They are not necessarily and always separate. In fact, no mind is ever "separate" from the one great Mind, the Spirit. (The illusion that it can be is the error of "duality," symbolized by the Eden story in Genesis.) So, after you have been reborn as the soulmind, you will later be reborn again, as the incarnation of the Love-principle or Lovespirit.
During our entire spiritual career as human students and learners, Love and fear exist together in the same mind. Our goal is zero percent fear and one hundred percent Love. It might well be impossible to reach this fine zenith, but striving for it makes human beings better by far. So, we keep this ideal before the mind as a longterm goal. For what we cannot do by our own power, God, through grace, can accomplish within us-- the complete erasure of all fear, and total in-filling with Love.
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Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Politics and Compassion: The Forgotten Promise
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No matter how dense certain people seem-- and those in public office can often seem denser than matter from neutron stars-- no karmic agenda can "take forever." But it must be admitted that any person responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths will take millennia, or even eons, to come back to an earthlike planet, and die as many deaths as he has caused. This is why the inevitable outworking of karma is not time-limited. The cosmic Mind of perfect justice and absolute equilibrium does have forever to work out the correct and adequate equations. You can rest assured that It thinks nothing of pitiable human "power," and that this sad, laughable little "power" is less than a hair on a gnat when compared with true Power! The Power that wraps, and unwinds, galaxies is the One that will enforce justice on a microscopic level, and It misses nothing.
As is the case with the brutality and subhuman atrocity of the seal-hunters in Canada, so with evil and greedy persons "in power." They are literally powerless before the One, the cosmic Mind. It records, remembers, and will recall all their voluntary, deliberate evil. A man who has been behind a hundred thousand deaths of violence must come back and die a hundred thousand violent deaths, as a poor, middle Eastern woman, man, or child. There is simply no getting around, or avoiding, the precise and absolute calculations of the karmic Mindmaster.
Sadly, many older people, who gave their all in WW2, are feeling nightmarishly betrayed as veterans' benefits have been curtailed. Many students are also feeling short-changed. Tons of money have been stolen from the public in order to finance murder. It takes truckloads of cash to slaughter tens of thousands of innocents, and more to massacre American girls and boys. Corporate bribes require even more money that actually belongs to the American people. This is not mere "politics." This is the deliberate practice of evil, the indulgence in mad egotism and out-of-control greed. In the long run, this hurts everyone.
A government is like an individual: It can "say" or claim anything. But only its behavior shows its true priorities and values. The only, sole, and single value of some in "power" is the dollar. They have proved, repeatedly and indubitably, that dollars are much more important to them than are human and other lives. These are absurd, backwards, and regressive policies. They are implemented by people who are both psychologically and morally arrested. These guys could not figure their way out of a room with twenty-five exit-doors! Nothing is as stupid as deliberate cruelty for cash. It will inevitably lead to disaster-- on both a personal karmic level and a social one.
The definition of "fascism" is sharing governmental power with corporations. In earlier decades, this word meant Hitler and his madness. Today, it means others and their insanities, created and fed by greed.
The hope of the country, and the world, is people of strong integrity. These are the truest and deepest "patriots," for they (we) speak against violence, robbbery (of both the people and the planet), and greed-- which hurt every American, and all global, citizens. We, the people and Communion of Love, must speak against greed and egotism gone mad. To remain silent would be a real and genuine betrayal. We must defend compassion-- not "compassionate conservatism," but the real thing!
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No matter how dense certain people seem-- and those in public office can often seem denser than matter from neutron stars-- no karmic agenda can "take forever." But it must be admitted that any person responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths will take millennia, or even eons, to come back to an earthlike planet, and die as many deaths as he has caused. This is why the inevitable outworking of karma is not time-limited. The cosmic Mind of perfect justice and absolute equilibrium does have forever to work out the correct and adequate equations. You can rest assured that It thinks nothing of pitiable human "power," and that this sad, laughable little "power" is less than a hair on a gnat when compared with true Power! The Power that wraps, and unwinds, galaxies is the One that will enforce justice on a microscopic level, and It misses nothing.
As is the case with the brutality and subhuman atrocity of the seal-hunters in Canada, so with evil and greedy persons "in power." They are literally powerless before the One, the cosmic Mind. It records, remembers, and will recall all their voluntary, deliberate evil. A man who has been behind a hundred thousand deaths of violence must come back and die a hundred thousand violent deaths, as a poor, middle Eastern woman, man, or child. There is simply no getting around, or avoiding, the precise and absolute calculations of the karmic Mindmaster.
Sadly, many older people, who gave their all in WW2, are feeling nightmarishly betrayed as veterans' benefits have been curtailed. Many students are also feeling short-changed. Tons of money have been stolen from the public in order to finance murder. It takes truckloads of cash to slaughter tens of thousands of innocents, and more to massacre American girls and boys. Corporate bribes require even more money that actually belongs to the American people. This is not mere "politics." This is the deliberate practice of evil, the indulgence in mad egotism and out-of-control greed. In the long run, this hurts everyone.
A government is like an individual: It can "say" or claim anything. But only its behavior shows its true priorities and values. The only, sole, and single value of some in "power" is the dollar. They have proved, repeatedly and indubitably, that dollars are much more important to them than are human and other lives. These are absurd, backwards, and regressive policies. They are implemented by people who are both psychologically and morally arrested. These guys could not figure their way out of a room with twenty-five exit-doors! Nothing is as stupid as deliberate cruelty for cash. It will inevitably lead to disaster-- on both a personal karmic level and a social one.
The definition of "fascism" is sharing governmental power with corporations. In earlier decades, this word meant Hitler and his madness. Today, it means others and their insanities, created and fed by greed.
The hope of the country, and the world, is people of strong integrity. These are the truest and deepest "patriots," for they (we) speak against violence, robbbery (of both the people and the planet), and greed-- which hurt every American, and all global, citizens. We, the people and Communion of Love, must speak against greed and egotism gone mad. To remain silent would be a real and genuine betrayal. We must defend compassion-- not "compassionate conservatism," but the real thing!
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Saturday, April 16, 2005
God and "Devil," Love and Fear
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It is true that the view of reincarnation, by and in itself, might not trigger "Love" in every heart. But it is a kind of counterbalance to a rather Pollyannic view of life that can arise from "Love" alone. Love can present the hope of a most idealistic world, even one in which fear does not even exist! And one day, we shall live in exactly this kind of world! But that day will not be tomorrow, or within the next few millennia. Love is incredibly practical, in its cosmic application, and Love gives rise to the principles of karma. For the human species has a particularly thick skull, collectively, and is terribly unlikely to learn all its life-lessons through the gentle teacher of Love. So, it must learn some of them through the harsh teacher of fear. Can fear ever serve Love?
Surprisingly, yes. Just as the cosmic Mind uses illusion to highlight and outline many great truths or realities, so "fear," being a part of illusion, must, in the overall view, serve Love. One of the more interesting mystical names for cosmic Mind, in the history of mysticism, is "Love." But another is "Reality." (In most religiospiritual systems, the word "truth" is used synonymously with "reality.")
Since there is only one Mind, and since It has no real opposite, and since fear does exist, then fear must by definition logically be a part of the Mind-- as is the entire cosmos of maya or illusion. In karma, fear is the major tool used to shake awake the mind, like a splash of cold water, and then, to keep it alert (or "mindful"). Fear is by no means the goal, so let us not confuse method with aim. But fear can penetrate the mind, overcoming the dullness of the average human mind, tearing it free from apathy, ignorance, and other mental "cobwebs." Fear is used by Love to energize, awaken, stimulate, and alert!
This truth is probably the source of the notorious "fear of God" and its presentation as a good thing. When we first, in the very beginning, start to straighten out our lives, we often do so from a "healthy" fear of karma and karmic consequences. Like all the many, many other tools of illusion that the Mind uses to educate us, fear is just another instrument for our growth and education in agapology (the gentle art of loving).
It would be nice, even idyllic, if we could all learn everything needed under the much more gentle tutelage of Love. Then, we could all sing and whistle our ways through life, with everyone smiling all the time. Life could be, not an exciting drama, but a kind of musical comedy! But alas, the world, and the mind, are not "built" that way. Like a little kid who straightens out her life due to her "fear" of her parents' reactions, we too must begin the path of Love with and in fear. The path of reality begins in illusion. But, as our Hindu sisters and brothers say, "Every path that leads to God is good-- and all paths lead to God."
An objective analysis shows that our lives are probably, in the beginning, mostly error. But mystics see "error" as constructive, because it is the tool used to educate us. If we learn from error or "sin," then it too drives us to wisdom, peace, and Love.
But this does NOT EVER imply the simplism that "sin is good." This is not a license for licentiousness. Instead, it is a recognition that mistakes can be turned into stepping-stones to bring us closer to wisdom. Remember that this does NOT apply to pre-meditated, deliberate, voluntary activities. For there can never exist such a thing as a "deliberate mistake."
Fear is the enemy of enlightenment, and the conceptual "opposite" of God.
Responding with fear is the greatest mistake, error, or "sin" of our lives. Happily, universal forgiveness is more than adequate to cover it. Again, exactly as Love uses fools to do Its work (for there are no alternatives on earth), it can and must also use fear to accomplish its education. In theological terms, the "devil" (fear) exists by God's (Lovemind's) permission.
The views of the relative unreality of the physical world, and that of reincarnation, are capable of ugly and dangerous abuses. These have actually occurred throughout history, as in the "Christian" Carpocrates or the "Jewish" Frank. These pseudomystical systems made dangerous travesties out of what were helpful mystical truths. So, the entire mystical philosophy can be quite useless without a comprehensive understanding of Love. That is why, at the very top of all mystical teachings is Love. "God is Love," and no concept or behavior could have a higher interpretation.
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It is true that the view of reincarnation, by and in itself, might not trigger "Love" in every heart. But it is a kind of counterbalance to a rather Pollyannic view of life that can arise from "Love" alone. Love can present the hope of a most idealistic world, even one in which fear does not even exist! And one day, we shall live in exactly this kind of world! But that day will not be tomorrow, or within the next few millennia. Love is incredibly practical, in its cosmic application, and Love gives rise to the principles of karma. For the human species has a particularly thick skull, collectively, and is terribly unlikely to learn all its life-lessons through the gentle teacher of Love. So, it must learn some of them through the harsh teacher of fear. Can fear ever serve Love?
Surprisingly, yes. Just as the cosmic Mind uses illusion to highlight and outline many great truths or realities, so "fear," being a part of illusion, must, in the overall view, serve Love. One of the more interesting mystical names for cosmic Mind, in the history of mysticism, is "Love." But another is "Reality." (In most religiospiritual systems, the word "truth" is used synonymously with "reality.")
Since there is only one Mind, and since It has no real opposite, and since fear does exist, then fear must by definition logically be a part of the Mind-- as is the entire cosmos of maya or illusion. In karma, fear is the major tool used to shake awake the mind, like a splash of cold water, and then, to keep it alert (or "mindful"). Fear is by no means the goal, so let us not confuse method with aim. But fear can penetrate the mind, overcoming the dullness of the average human mind, tearing it free from apathy, ignorance, and other mental "cobwebs." Fear is used by Love to energize, awaken, stimulate, and alert!
This truth is probably the source of the notorious "fear of God" and its presentation as a good thing. When we first, in the very beginning, start to straighten out our lives, we often do so from a "healthy" fear of karma and karmic consequences. Like all the many, many other tools of illusion that the Mind uses to educate us, fear is just another instrument for our growth and education in agapology (the gentle art of loving).
It would be nice, even idyllic, if we could all learn everything needed under the much more gentle tutelage of Love. Then, we could all sing and whistle our ways through life, with everyone smiling all the time. Life could be, not an exciting drama, but a kind of musical comedy! But alas, the world, and the mind, are not "built" that way. Like a little kid who straightens out her life due to her "fear" of her parents' reactions, we too must begin the path of Love with and in fear. The path of reality begins in illusion. But, as our Hindu sisters and brothers say, "Every path that leads to God is good-- and all paths lead to God."
An objective analysis shows that our lives are probably, in the beginning, mostly error. But mystics see "error" as constructive, because it is the tool used to educate us. If we learn from error or "sin," then it too drives us to wisdom, peace, and Love.
But this does NOT EVER imply the simplism that "sin is good." This is not a license for licentiousness. Instead, it is a recognition that mistakes can be turned into stepping-stones to bring us closer to wisdom. Remember that this does NOT apply to pre-meditated, deliberate, voluntary activities. For there can never exist such a thing as a "deliberate mistake."
Fear is the enemy of enlightenment, and the conceptual "opposite" of God.
Responding with fear is the greatest mistake, error, or "sin" of our lives. Happily, universal forgiveness is more than adequate to cover it. Again, exactly as Love uses fools to do Its work (for there are no alternatives on earth), it can and must also use fear to accomplish its education. In theological terms, the "devil" (fear) exists by God's (Lovemind's) permission.
The views of the relative unreality of the physical world, and that of reincarnation, are capable of ugly and dangerous abuses. These have actually occurred throughout history, as in the "Christian" Carpocrates or the "Jewish" Frank. These pseudomystical systems made dangerous travesties out of what were helpful mystical truths. So, the entire mystical philosophy can be quite useless without a comprehensive understanding of Love. That is why, at the very top of all mystical teachings is Love. "God is Love," and no concept or behavior could have a higher interpretation.
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Several Souls, One Life?
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More than one soul cannot share an individual life, under normal circumstances. The rule is, one soul for one body, per life. This cuts way down on confusion, and helps keep matters in order karmically. In any average life, the center of response, and responsibility, is the conscious mind, usually expressed as ego. The only purpose of the conscious mind is to make decisions and choices, to sow and to reap the "seeds" of karma. Its function is not to control the world, but simply to experience it.
It is therefore supremely logical that cosmic law is arranged so that only one soul gives rise to only one single consciousness, or conscious mind. If dozens of people "believe" that they were all St. Francis, for example, this situation is nothing more than hyperoveractive imagination combined with egotism. Just fyi, I do not claim to have been the lovely saint, but he has been a very important role-model, for centuries.:)
At times, a very great spiritual person might become an "archetype." This is the case with both Francis and Jesus, and many others. An "archetype" in the Unconscious is a being or image so powerful that it strongly attracts minds to itself. It is probable that weaker minds, lacking discernment, can really come to believe that they were these powerful minds from the past. But that subjective, personal conviction proves nothing, and does not constitute an objective argument. In most cases, it is simple overcompensation for feeling worthless, or a pitiable cry for attention.
To answer sometimes complex spiritual questions, the principle called "Occam's Razor" is important. This is actually a principle borrowed from science, and goes back to the Middle Ages. It says simply that if you must choose between a simple answer and a complex one, the simpler is likely to give greater truth and understanding. And when many people all claim to "have been" John, "Melchizedek," or Merlin, the simplest and clearest explanation is hyperimagination combined with hyperegotism.
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More than one soul cannot share an individual life, under normal circumstances. The rule is, one soul for one body, per life. This cuts way down on confusion, and helps keep matters in order karmically. In any average life, the center of response, and responsibility, is the conscious mind, usually expressed as ego. The only purpose of the conscious mind is to make decisions and choices, to sow and to reap the "seeds" of karma. Its function is not to control the world, but simply to experience it.
It is therefore supremely logical that cosmic law is arranged so that only one soul gives rise to only one single consciousness, or conscious mind. If dozens of people "believe" that they were all St. Francis, for example, this situation is nothing more than hyperoveractive imagination combined with egotism. Just fyi, I do not claim to have been the lovely saint, but he has been a very important role-model, for centuries.:)
At times, a very great spiritual person might become an "archetype." This is the case with both Francis and Jesus, and many others. An "archetype" in the Unconscious is a being or image so powerful that it strongly attracts minds to itself. It is probable that weaker minds, lacking discernment, can really come to believe that they were these powerful minds from the past. But that subjective, personal conviction proves nothing, and does not constitute an objective argument. In most cases, it is simple overcompensation for feeling worthless, or a pitiable cry for attention.
To answer sometimes complex spiritual questions, the principle called "Occam's Razor" is important. This is actually a principle borrowed from science, and goes back to the Middle Ages. It says simply that if you must choose between a simple answer and a complex one, the simpler is likely to give greater truth and understanding. And when many people all claim to "have been" John, "Melchizedek," or Merlin, the simplest and clearest explanation is hyperimagination combined with hyperegotism.
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Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Slaughter of Seals and Dolphins
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The fools and barbarians are at it again! Canadian "hunters," big, impressive men, have once again taken to the ice-fields to club and bludgeon to death baby seals-- some as young as twelve days old! These men are forced, and destined, to live in the worst "hell" imaginable-- their own minds! But their selfcreated "hells" have only just begun!
This atrocity strikes the gentle, sensitive heart like lightning. We do not want to hear about it, or read about it. That is understood. Still, from a spiritual overview, more is going on "behind the scenes."
The nightmare of this atrocity has been going on for thirty years in modern times, and for centuries before. One way that a tender heartmind can tolerate the horror is by the realization of karma.
For thousands of the baby seals being battered to death are the former human hunters of seals, reincarnated in the form of baby seals so as to get a truer perspective. Similarly, with the abuse of dolphins, they are not ALL "innocent" victims. By now, many thousands of dolphins are reincarnations of human beings who used to abuse, torture, and murder dolphins.
The same is true of the baby seals. About ninety thousand will be affected, and so, we must ask, "Is it possible that one single human soul could simultaneously reincarnate as several seals? Yes, it is certainly possible. This would significantly amplify the pain and agony, and would unforgettably imprint the lesson on the soul. So, looking at the horror of the slaughter, we can find a tiny bit of comfort in the outworking of a just and balanced law of karma that serves Love. Perhaps as many as one hundred percent of the seals and dolphins currently being murdered are really vicious human "animals" reincarnated to feel the ghastly agony that careless, callous stupidity and greed bring to our animal sisters and brothers.
Despite appearances to the contrary, perhaps the truest and fullest justice is working itself out through all the pain and loss. Only Love is great enough to erase or neutralize karma, and now, these beastly hunters are being forced to learn just how crucial and indispensable Love really is!
Please stay open to this explanation, as it is the only one that implies the creation of any justice amidst the storms of blood cshed by the horrific hunters. At this moment, those hunters are learning their lessons well. When, in the future, they return as human beings, it will be as tender, gentle, sensitive beings of compassion, sympathy, and Love.
*******
The fools and barbarians are at it again! Canadian "hunters," big, impressive men, have once again taken to the ice-fields to club and bludgeon to death baby seals-- some as young as twelve days old! These men are forced, and destined, to live in the worst "hell" imaginable-- their own minds! But their selfcreated "hells" have only just begun!
This atrocity strikes the gentle, sensitive heart like lightning. We do not want to hear about it, or read about it. That is understood. Still, from a spiritual overview, more is going on "behind the scenes."
The nightmare of this atrocity has been going on for thirty years in modern times, and for centuries before. One way that a tender heartmind can tolerate the horror is by the realization of karma.
For thousands of the baby seals being battered to death are the former human hunters of seals, reincarnated in the form of baby seals so as to get a truer perspective. Similarly, with the abuse of dolphins, they are not ALL "innocent" victims. By now, many thousands of dolphins are reincarnations of human beings who used to abuse, torture, and murder dolphins.
The same is true of the baby seals. About ninety thousand will be affected, and so, we must ask, "Is it possible that one single human soul could simultaneously reincarnate as several seals? Yes, it is certainly possible. This would significantly amplify the pain and agony, and would unforgettably imprint the lesson on the soul. So, looking at the horror of the slaughter, we can find a tiny bit of comfort in the outworking of a just and balanced law of karma that serves Love. Perhaps as many as one hundred percent of the seals and dolphins currently being murdered are really vicious human "animals" reincarnated to feel the ghastly agony that careless, callous stupidity and greed bring to our animal sisters and brothers.
Despite appearances to the contrary, perhaps the truest and fullest justice is working itself out through all the pain and loss. Only Love is great enough to erase or neutralize karma, and now, these beastly hunters are being forced to learn just how crucial and indispensable Love really is!
Please stay open to this explanation, as it is the only one that implies the creation of any justice amidst the storms of blood cshed by the horrific hunters. At this moment, those hunters are learning their lessons well. When, in the future, they return as human beings, it will be as tender, gentle, sensitive beings of compassion, sympathy, and Love.
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Three Yogas
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Yoga, a form of mystical practice common in India and elsewhere, comes in several varieties. Here, we will take a microglance at three of them:
Standard hatha (pronounced "hot'-hah") yoga is the yoga of the asanas,physical postures. Most do not know this, but it was not designed for healing. It was designed, by mystic masters, so that the body could be "parked" in a stable condition, and then, forgotten, left behind, for the cultivation of mindstates.
Raja yoga is the "royal" or highest form of yoga. It is pure meditation, an entry into stillness or crystalmind. It is all done in the mind. Its ultimate goal is the supremely altered state in which "your personal" mind loses its artificial boundaries and sinks into the great Mind of Love and Light.
Bhakti yoga is the Way of devotion.
A mantra, or repeated phrase consisting of a sacred divine name, is what separates bhukti (pronounced "buck'-tea") yoga from other forms. For example, a tight laserlike focus on the adoration of Jesus, Mary, Kwan Yin, Parvati, the Buddha, etc., would be a form of bhakti.
The word yoga means "yoke." A yoke was a harness that fit over the necks of two animals pulling a cart or plow, sharing the load. But Yoga is the "yoke" that joins you with Lovemind, the One, the Lord, or Brahman. God does most of the pulling; She does the major work of your llife, and lets you relax. But you are not just "along for the ride." You must also participate, and pull your fair share. For you are here to learn.
But yoga emphasizes "grace." God provides all the energy and circumstances that bring yu into enlightenment. Goddess or nature initiates the brain-body changes necessary to activate the chakral and other energy-systems necessary to enlighten the brain-mind system. So, nature (Goddess) and higher Mind (God) do all the real work.
Yoga is a very body-integrated system. It shows how you can use the body as your instrument for enlightenment. But the body, only a "package" of energies, contains the brain, the "transmitter" for the nonphysical Mind.
Yoga does not work unless you do. So, if you take up yoga, you must discipline yourself to do it regularly and consistently. If you do not structure your yoga in this healthy way, it will probably do little or nothing for you.
*******
Yoga, a form of mystical practice common in India and elsewhere, comes in several varieties. Here, we will take a microglance at three of them:
Standard hatha (pronounced "hot'-hah") yoga is the yoga of the asanas,physical postures. Most do not know this, but it was not designed for healing. It was designed, by mystic masters, so that the body could be "parked" in a stable condition, and then, forgotten, left behind, for the cultivation of mindstates.
Raja yoga is the "royal" or highest form of yoga. It is pure meditation, an entry into stillness or crystalmind. It is all done in the mind. Its ultimate goal is the supremely altered state in which "your personal" mind loses its artificial boundaries and sinks into the great Mind of Love and Light.
Bhakti yoga is the Way of devotion.
A mantra, or repeated phrase consisting of a sacred divine name, is what separates bhukti (pronounced "buck'-tea") yoga from other forms. For example, a tight laserlike focus on the adoration of Jesus, Mary, Kwan Yin, Parvati, the Buddha, etc., would be a form of bhakti.
The word yoga means "yoke." A yoke was a harness that fit over the necks of two animals pulling a cart or plow, sharing the load. But Yoga is the "yoke" that joins you with Lovemind, the One, the Lord, or Brahman. God does most of the pulling; She does the major work of your llife, and lets you relax. But you are not just "along for the ride." You must also participate, and pull your fair share. For you are here to learn.
But yoga emphasizes "grace." God provides all the energy and circumstances that bring yu into enlightenment. Goddess or nature initiates the brain-body changes necessary to activate the chakral and other energy-systems necessary to enlighten the brain-mind system. So, nature (Goddess) and higher Mind (God) do all the real work.
Yoga is a very body-integrated system. It shows how you can use the body as your instrument for enlightenment. But the body, only a "package" of energies, contains the brain, the "transmitter" for the nonphysical Mind.
Yoga does not work unless you do. So, if you take up yoga, you must discipline yourself to do it regularly and consistently. If you do not structure your yoga in this healthy way, it will probably do little or nothing for you.
*******
A Friend about to Die
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Full recovery might not be what your friend in a coma wants. At the moment of actual death, all fear evaporates instantly. If we are lucky, we get a vision of the Homeworld, or afterlife condition. I was there: btdt! (been there, done that). When, at that moment, we are so warmly, brightly coddled by the Love of the cosmos, it changes everything. Also, if we get even a tiny glimpse of the afterlife world, we do not always want to "come back." Often, a coma gives us the perfect opportunity to see, or even to visit, the Homeworld. When that happens, a person simply loses interest in, and does not want to return to, the earthlife.
Whatever happens with your friend, you can rest assured that his mind has worked out a plan with the Lovemind, and that the will of Love will be done; Love will have Its way, no matter what any, or all, of us want.:) Your friend is in good hands-- and I don't mean "Allstate"!:)
*******
Full recovery might not be what your friend in a coma wants. At the moment of actual death, all fear evaporates instantly. If we are lucky, we get a vision of the Homeworld, or afterlife condition. I was there: btdt! (been there, done that). When, at that moment, we are so warmly, brightly coddled by the Love of the cosmos, it changes everything. Also, if we get even a tiny glimpse of the afterlife world, we do not always want to "come back." Often, a coma gives us the perfect opportunity to see, or even to visit, the Homeworld. When that happens, a person simply loses interest in, and does not want to return to, the earthlife.
Whatever happens with your friend, you can rest assured that his mind has worked out a plan with the Lovemind, and that the will of Love will be done; Love will have Its way, no matter what any, or all, of us want.:) Your friend is in good hands-- and I don't mean "Allstate"!:)
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Saturday, April 09, 2005
A Mind of Love
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While not wanting to fall into the "conspiracy" paranoia, I do agree that we are influenced, on many levels, by what you might regard as "sinister" forces and people. The ultimate and hypertech "shield" against this is a balanced and active spirituality. This is nothing more, or less, than a mind filled to the brim with Love. This is a twenty-four seven pursuit. For it all occurs in the mind, and a mind that is firmly grounded and rooted in spirituality is invincible to fears and evils. They are no competition as "masters" to the Master of Love. In fact, they haven't the faintest ghost of a chance.
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While not wanting to fall into the "conspiracy" paranoia, I do agree that we are influenced, on many levels, by what you might regard as "sinister" forces and people. The ultimate and hypertech "shield" against this is a balanced and active spirituality. This is nothing more, or less, than a mind filled to the brim with Love. This is a twenty-four seven pursuit. For it all occurs in the mind, and a mind that is firmly grounded and rooted in spirituality is invincible to fears and evils. They are no competition as "masters" to the Master of Love. In fact, they haven't the faintest ghost of a chance.
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Sharing Ideas
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In questions as complex as abortion, there are a thousand, and more, "sub-questions" that must be asked and answered. And do old men really have the right, or the knowledge, or the wisdom, to make the most important decision a young woman will ever have to make in her entire life?
The answer to this and many other questions is embedded in your entire view of the cosmos. It is part of your relationnship with the Infinite, with "God." (Like John and other ancient writers, I define "God" as "Love.":) This makes answering difficult problems both more complex, and simpler. All answers to all important questions are interwoven with images of self, selfishness, and kindness towards others. Most forms of Love begin with Selflove, and she who cannot, tragically, love herself is usually incapable of loving others with healing Love.
I'm not interested in "converting" anyone to any particular religion. I share my perspectives only after I am actively requested to do so. Spirituality is the main factor in my life. But that is said only as an intro to this: I am not a religious man. The deepest, most sincere practice of spirituality need not even imply religion. Jesus, and other great teachers, even went against the popular religions of their day. I have nothing against religious people. We need to try to make practical spirituality the Center of our lives. That, however, does not imply that I must "shove religion down your throat.":)
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In questions as complex as abortion, there are a thousand, and more, "sub-questions" that must be asked and answered. And do old men really have the right, or the knowledge, or the wisdom, to make the most important decision a young woman will ever have to make in her entire life?
The answer to this and many other questions is embedded in your entire view of the cosmos. It is part of your relationnship with the Infinite, with "God." (Like John and other ancient writers, I define "God" as "Love.":) This makes answering difficult problems both more complex, and simpler. All answers to all important questions are interwoven with images of self, selfishness, and kindness towards others. Most forms of Love begin with Selflove, and she who cannot, tragically, love herself is usually incapable of loving others with healing Love.
I'm not interested in "converting" anyone to any particular religion. I share my perspectives only after I am actively requested to do so. Spirituality is the main factor in my life. But that is said only as an intro to this: I am not a religious man. The deepest, most sincere practice of spirituality need not even imply religion. Jesus, and other great teachers, even went against the popular religions of their day. I have nothing against religious people. We need to try to make practical spirituality the Center of our lives. That, however, does not imply that I must "shove religion down your throat.":)
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Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Presbycons
When we call the extremist conservatives "neocons," we make them sound new and attractive, at least, to those who have no discernment. So, I suggest that we call them "presbycons." In Greek, neo="new," and presby="old." Since their ideas are all antique, going all the way back to Hitler and before, they are spouting old and recycled ideas that are dangerous. The word "presbycon" recognizes that their concepts are nothing but time-worn and recycled concepts.
Those old and greedy politicians have nothing new to offer. They just keep regurgitating the same old, dusty, and fascist bull.
Pass on the word to every politically active, or interested, person that you know. It's time that we started calling a spade a spade.
Those old and greedy politicians have nothing new to offer. They just keep regurgitating the same old, dusty, and fascist bull.
Pass on the word to every politically active, or interested, person that you know. It's time that we started calling a spade a spade.
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